


What you See and What you Get

by OffColorDarkrai



Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Super Mario Bros. (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Cuddle Pile, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Kinda, Mario is sleepy (TM), Monsters, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Platonic Cuddling, Pride Dynamics, SO MUCH FLUFF, Secret Identity, Twins, Unicorns, no beta we die like men, polterpup and polterkitty are Luigi's cubs, soft twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29152941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OffColorDarkrai/pseuds/OffColorDarkrai
Summary: On a rare day off Peach and Daisy go to visit their favorite boys, only to get a rather alarming surprise.
Relationships: Luigi & Mario (Nintendo), Luigi & Peach-hime | Peach Toadstool, Mario/Peach-hime | Peach Toadstool, Princess Daisy & Peach-hime | Peach Toadstool, Princess Daisy/Luigi
Kudos: 10





	What you See and What you Get

It was a rare treat that they both had a day off like this. Usually, they only got to hang out during sporting events or the downtime between political meetings, given Daisy had to run her own kingdom and set up said sporting events, and Peach was being bounced between political duties, being kidnapped, social appearances, being kidnapped, preparing events, and being kidnapped again. Now though Peach had been rescued from her most recent kidnapping yesterday, meaning she had at least a week before the next one, there were no upcoming events, and both she and Daisy had just wrapped up a very tricky trade deal much sooner than expected. So, with the sudden free time granted, the two of them had decided to go surprise their favorite boys.

The Mario household was situated just a little outside of Toad Town, a modest cottage surrounded by rolling hills and a nearby forest. Peach had once asked them why they lived so far out, but neither of the boys had ever given her a real concrete answer, and in the end, she’d just stopped asking. Now the distance allowed her and Daisy a nice, peaceful stroll through the flowering hillside.

“You’re sure they’re not going to be out on a job?” Daisy broke the comfortable silence.

Peach looked over at her practically-sister, noticing the other princess had allowed herself a partial shift, soft Fenix-Fox ears flicking in the breeze.

“Of course,” reaching out to flick one of Daisy’s ears teasingly “Mario got hit by a stray spell yesterday, and even though it failed, I know Luigi isn’t going to let him do anything even vaguely strenuous for the next couple of days.”

There was a brief flicker of sappy fondness that ghosted across Daisy’s face when Luigi’s name was mentioned—Peach had to stifle a giggle at her friend’s expense—but it was gone in a blink, replaced by a devious smirk.

“Right, and now we’re going to pay them a surprise visit just for fun, and not because you’re worried at all.”

Peach felt her face flush red, which made Daisy cackle.

This is what she got for being nice…

“The princess come to check on her noble fallen knight! Think he’ll let you use those magical unicorn powers of yours to make him feel all better?”

Peach’s face was burning as she shoved Daisy, only earning louder cackling in response.

“That’s not how it works! And besides, neither of the boys have seen my shifted form before…”

“What really?!” Daisy cut her off, ears perked.

“No, it’s never come up.” Peach huffed, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Hmm, well… well, even if they’ve never seen it, I bet they’ve heard about it from the Toads, or they’ve guessed by now. Your shift is kind of the most stereotypical princess shift in history, no offense.”

Peach would have totally taken offense if Daisy hadn’t been 100% right. Her mythical creature shift was, while extremely rare, a very, very stereotypical magical princess shift. Not to mention that Unicorns were one of the creatures most strongly associated with powerful healing magic, something she’d never been shy about possessing. It was probably one of the reasons Bowser kept kidnapping her. The Mushroom Kingdom denizens, with their small animal shifts, practically revered her majestic shift-form, so it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to assume they’d told the boys all about it at some point.

“Hey!” Daisy broke into her thoughts with a yell. “I just had a great idea!”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah!” Daisy was practically bouncing now. “We could introduce your shift form to the boys! Have a shift day, run around the woods, fun stuff!”

Peach grinned at her friend’s excitement, even as there was a small twist of concern in her chest. Having a shift day did sound like fun, a nice relaxing day with her favorite people, but she wasn’t so confident about showing her shift form to the boys. Knowing about it was one thing, but actually seeing it tended to have people treating her with a sort of awed reverence that left her feeling more like a symbol than a person, and it had already taken long enough to convince the boys to call her by her name, not her station. Sure the boys almost never reacted to anything the way most civilized people did—growing up with a bunch of yoshis on an island did that to you apparently—but their shifted forms’ reactions to an actual mythical creature in their midst would surely follow instinct more than logic.

Then again… she’d never seen their shifted forms. Yoshi had, but never said anything much in regards to them, and they were just as much of a mystery to Daisy as to her. She couldn’t deny she was curious: What were their shifted forms? Being twins, did they have the same shift or different ones? Were they large shifts? Small? Herbivores? Carnivores? Omnivores? Mammals? Birds? Amphibians? Reptiles? She would guess something strong and loyal, like some type of dog, but there was just no way of knowing.

Maybe this could be a chance to change that?

Daisy was still vibrating in place as Peach turned to her, ears down, lip quivering, eyes wide and begging. Peach smiled lightly in response and nodded, which caused Daisy to instantly switch from her Puppy-dog eyes to a true Fox-grin.

“Awesome!” She cheered, jumping up and pumping her fist. On her way back down she twisted and shifted completely, springing forward at a run.

_‘Come on, we’re wasting time!’_ Her telepathic voice echoed in Peach’s head, making her giggle as she began to pick up the pace, keeping her eye on Daisy’s bushy tail as it bobbed along the path.

It didn’t take long for the bright red roof of the Mario brother’s cottage to come into view, given they’d already been walking for a while. Daisy bound forward, shifting back in mid-air, coming down with the grace that had won her numerous sports competitions, as Peach finally caught up. The blond rolled her eyes at Daisy’s antics, stepping around her and going to knock on the door, only for the other to grab her wrist.

“Nuh-uh, it’s not a surprise if you knock!” She scolded, before bending down to swipe a key from under what looked like a decorative lawn-mushroom. She waved off the disapproving glare Peach sent her way as she slid the key into the lock

“Oh hush, it’s not breaking-and-entering if they tell you where the key is!”

There were so many things wrong with that sentence, but Daisy had already gotten the door unlocked, re-hid the key, swung the door open as quietly as possible, and tiptoed inside. Peach followed, closing the door lightly, an uncharacteristic tension making her heart beat a little harder as the two of them maneuvered through the front hall toward the brothers’ living room.

Daisy was obviously trying very hard not to give herself away, considering the quiet shaking of her shoulders with suppressed giggles. Peach felt she was somewhere between Daisy’s reaction and quiet horror at how many social niceties she was trampling over right now. She couldn’t help it, she was raised to be a prim and proper princess, with all of the manners and social training that entailed. Although… this was kind of exciting, breaking the rules like this, no wonder Daisy loved doing this sort of thing.

She was trying to figure out exactly how badly Toadsworth would freak out if he saw what she was doing right now when she was jolted to a halt by running smack into Daisy’s back as she stood frozen in the entrance to the living room. Peach had a moment to right herself, blinking in surprise at the sudden obstacle before her gaze slid toward the room ahead and she caught sight of what had stopped Daisy in her tracks.

It was big, really big, covered in shaggy red-brown and dark brown fur that stuck up at odd angles. They couldn’t see its head, but they could hear a deep, deep rumbling snore, and the scrape-swish of something across the floor. It was laying down, but Peach could tell if it stood up it would be bigger than the two of them; probably still smaller than Bowser, but not by much. It had something that looked like a broken tent draped across its back like a blanket, and every once and a while it gave a heavy twitch, but otherwise, it didn’t seem to be awake. Peach wondered if this was a friend one of the Brothers had made on one of their adventures, come for a visit, but she didn’t remember either of them mentioning someone like this, or that anyone was coming by any time soon. No matter who, or what, this might be, however, Peach was suddenly very aware that she and Daisy were standing in the doorway and watching them sleep.

As if the other could sense her thoughts the snoring cut off, replaced by an even deeper rumbling as whatever-it-was shook itself awake. Peach and Daisy remained frozen in place as it stretched and turned, flashing huge paws with long, white claws, and shaking the tent-like structure on its back, revealing them to be massive, bat-like wings. Its head turned their way, revealing glinting fangs and sleep-heavy eyes, as a thick, barbed tail arched over its back, stinger glistening with what was clearly poison.

It was the tail that did it; Peach realized exactly what they were looking at, her inner Unicorn rearing back and demanding she run. A Manticore, a real, living, breathing, _deadly_ Manticore was laying in her friend’s living room, staring at them with its huge blue slit-eyes, pinning them in place. She’d never seen one before, they were thought to have been merely fables to scare naughty children, or give fairy-tale heroes a monster to fight, yet here one was now, and she was trapped between wanting to flee and remaining as still as possible.

There was a creak from across the room and the blue gaze broke away, turning toward the sound, freeing the two princesses, but also drawing their own attention in the same direction.

A new shot of fear flooded through Peach’s veins, because standing on the opposite side of the room, entering from the hall where the bedrooms were, was _another_ Manticore! Its wings were a little smaller, its fur much less mussed, and it looked thinner than the other, but it was still massive, and the tail arching over its back was definitely longer and sharper looking, and it had the same piercing blue gaze. The Manticore on the ground huffed at the other, letting out a new rumble, which the other responded to before it must have caught their scent because it looked up and caught sight of them. Again Peach felt herself freeze in place, but this time it looked like the new Manticore was frozen as well, its eyes blown wide and something—was that shock?—written across its muzzle.

The whole thing would have probably led to another round of staring contests, Peach scrambling for what to do if the air wasn’t split by a loud bark and something white burst through the wall to collide with Daisy, knocking her over.

“Ah! Polterpup!?” Daisy screamed, then immediately tried to block the ghost dog’s enthusiastic greeting.

Peach was so startled she let out a little squeak, which turned into a stifled scream as there was a sharp growl and a voice echoed in her head

_‘Polterpup no! Down! We don’t attack guests!’_

Peach whipped to stare at the second Manticore, the voice shockingly familiar, and for the first time noticed the purple spectral cat dangling by her scruff from its—his mouth.

“Luigi!” She gasped, earning her a surprised blink as he approached the other Manticore—wait, was that _Mario?!_ —and dropped Polterkitty one him, where she yawned and curled against the bigger cat, purring happily.

_‘Peach! Daisy!’_ It _was_ Luigi, a fact made blatantly clear as he shifted mid-step into the familiar lanky green plumber they all knew. “What are you two doing here? Is there trouble?”

Peach couldn’t quite bring herself to respond, mind having gone blank.

Daisy had no such problems, getting back to her feet with a happy Polterpup under her arm.

“You bet buster! Did you not think it was important to tell us that you could shift into a giant lion-bat-scorpion monster?! You scared us half to death!”

Luigi just blinked confusedly at her anger.

“Well, you guys were the ones who decided to break in without warning…”

“It’s not breaking-and-entering if you told us where the key was!”

“That’s…” Luigi, being the smart man he was, obviously decided arguing with Daisy when she was angry wasn’t worth it, instead switching to rubbing the back of his neck. “Okie-Dokie then, ah… well we weren’t expecting visitors today, and the whole shifting thing has never come up before, and they’re kinda scary and not normal shifts, and we… I… didn’t want… um…” He rambled, drawing the anger out of Daisy in a way Peach had only ever seen him do, and making that sappy-fond expression from their walk reappear. It was super adorable, and Peach was already starting to forget how terrified she’d felt only minutes ago.

Then part of Luigi’s ramble brought it all right back, though for a different reason.

“…and big bro can’t really unshift right now because of that spell, and…”

“Wait!” She stopped him, making him jump, “Mario is stuck in shift? Because of that spell yesterday?! You both said he was fine!” Mario had gotten hurt because of her and she hadn’t even known! She should have pressed, double, triple checked, she should have…!

“Peach…! Peach…! Princess!” Luigi’s voice snapped her out of her worry spiral, his hand resting on her arm. “We did think he was fine, but it was a delayed spell. It dragged all of my bro’s instincts out in front and forced him into shift. It’ll wear off, but it's slow going, so we’ve been here relaxing until he’s more…here. He’ll be fine, he’s just a bit more shift-Mario than Super-Mario right now.”

He waved at his brother, who was watching them through half-lidded eyes, and now that she was looking, Peach could see the dark patch of fur that was very clearly Mario’s iconic mustache on his muzzle. The Manticore on the floor shook his mane and yawned wide, showing off his brilliant white teeth.

_‘brother-‘other-half’-‘me-not-me’-twin, your cub wants you and your white cub to come lie back with the pride, it is not time to hunt yet…”_ The voice was Mario’s, only strangely slurred and not all there. He was far more focused on his brother than on the girls, but occasionally his eyes would slide over them lazily, unfocused. Now that he wasn’t looking at them like a disturbed predator, Peach could feel how her shift-side had calmed down to a tempered wariness, alert, but not ready to run at a moment’s notice. Daisy’s shift-side looked to have calmed as well, her pointed ears back on her head and relaxed, freehand scratching under Polterpup’s chin.

Luigi glanced at his brother, clearly wanting to do as he asked, then back to them, obviously not wanting to be a bad host.

“I… ah…”

“Sound’s fun, we invited to the cuddle pile?” Daisy asked, grinning.

Luigi looked between them wide-eyed.

“I... I mean sure? Er, yeah, sure, if you want…?”

Daisy responded by shoving Polterpup into his arms and shifting, sitting primly on her haunches, tail wagging. Luigi bent as if on autopilot to scoop her up, before looking at Peach.

“Um… You don’t have to if you don’t…”

Peach did take a moment to think about it, considering any possible cons, before giving Luigi a soft smile.

“Like Daisy said, it sounds like fun, and we were thinking of inviting you two to have a shift-day anyways.”

“O—oh! Okie Dokie! Good, that’s…” He managed to stop himself from rambling again, a light but joyful smile on his face as he carried Daisy and Polterpup around to Mario’s front, placing them on the floor gently, then stepping back to shift himself, shaking out his wings and flicking his tail with a huff. Mario made a rumbling sound that was probably a purr as his twin plodded over, nipping at his ear and giving him a greeting lick, which Luigi returned by batting at him with one of his wings and rumbling in return. It was a lot like watching two massively overgrown kittens, and it made Peach really wish she had brought a camera. Daisy yipped, giving Luigi her own happy greeting lick, then looked over at Peach and yipped again.

_‘Come on, don’t just stand there, get in here!’_

Peach hesitated, the earlier worries and concerns spiking once again, but as she looked at the content pile of ghosts and fur on the Mario brother’s floor, her thoughts calmed. She sighed, breathing out all of her hang-ups, and allowed herself to shift. Her thin, deer-like limbs bore her over to the others, giving them a soft, wordless call of greeting. The others responded in kind, with neither of the boys seeming at all concerned with her form, Luigi going back to grooming Polterkitty as Daisy attempted to groom him, while Mario simply looked at her, his eyes still tired, but so very soft. One of his wings lifted as he offered her a place, purring in that deep, rumbling way of his as she tucked herself under it, so very glad her blush was hidden by her fur. Once she was situated he lay his head back down on his paws and went to sleep, his wing tightening around her like a warm embrace. Across from them, Daisy seemed to have the same idea, having given up on trying to groom Luigi’s mane in favor of burrowing into it, curled into a soft ball of gold fur. Peach could feel herself growing drowsy with the warmth, mind filling with the sound of deep breaths and calming rumbles. She lay her head down, careful to keep her horn pointed away so she wouldn’t accidentally stab anyone in her sleep, and let her eyes flutter closed, snuggling closer to warm fur with a satisfied sigh.

This was a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> Shifter Notes:  
> All species can shift in some way  
> Toads: Small animals like squirrels, cats, birds, chipmunks, rabbits, etc.  
> Goombas: Small reptiles and amphibians  
> Koopas: Can shift size (get smaller) or medium (become land-based or sea-based)  
> Yoshis: Can shift into quadrupedal dinosaur forms  
> Humans: Can shift into a wide range of animals, but not mythical  
> Star-Children: Special shifts  
>  Peach: Unicorn with healing  
>  Mario & Luigi: Manticores with fire and lightning respectively  
>  Bowser: Godzilla form and more powerful fire  
>  Yoshi: a hydra (very useful for keeping hold of squirmy twin cubs) Immune to poison  
>  Wario: Griffen with metal location/manipulation skills  
>  Donkey Kong: King-Kong size form with ice powers


End file.
